How to prevent worry and doubt in the monk life?

When I ordain in the future, how do I prevent myself from feeling anxious about whether I have accidentally broken any rules? I might worry and have doubts over whether I have committed a dukkata offense. Then I might start having thoughts like “can I still be reborn in heaven?”, “can I still see the nimitta”, “can I still attain jhana”, etc.
Is it possible to not commit any offense intentionally or unintentionally and not have any unwholesome thoughts from the moment I ordain to the moment I die?

Before the Pātimokkha recitation on the bimontlhy Uposatha days, you will be required to confess any broken rules to another monk. That satisfies to conditions for repariing your vows in the case that you have broken any rules entailing conffession. Then you will be a pure bhikkhu again (unless you break any of the rules again), and you will be able to attend the rest of the event.

For the more serious rules, it’s different. If you commit a pārājika, then you are finished; you will no longer a monk at that point, just like a “stone that has been broken”. For a saṃghādisesa there is a formal process with the community, and the penalty is temporary exclusion and a probationary period, after which the monk may be reinstated by a quorum of at least 20 monks. If there is a nissaggiya pācittiya, you will have to forfeit whatever illicit item is concerned before confessing, etc.

I am sure some of the bhikkhus could elaborate. :folded_hands:

R

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What if someone is just worried that they might have broken the rules and forgotten about it or they might have broken rules unintentionally? Will it be bad kamma if a monk unknowingly breaks a rule?
And by rule, I mean on the level of dukkata.

A blanket statement is used by monks for the confession, which covers all the rules entailing confession (so all dukkhata are automatically covered). This covers the broken rule whether it was broken intentionally, or unintentionally, and whether the bhikkhu has knowledge of having broken the rule, or not. This confession is called the āpatti-desanā. For higher level offenses, there are other versions of this forumula.

Once the confession is made to another bhikkhu, then the broken vows are considered fully repaired. Obviously, it is much better not to have broken any of the rules in the first place. Nevertheless, the bhikkhu, once again, has the status of a “pure bhikkhu”—the same as before any of those rules were broken, once he has done this. The Buddha intentionally set it up this way because good monks would still invariably break the rules sometimes.

Only after confessing can the now pure bhikkhu attend the Uposathakamma, which includes the Pātimokkha recitation, recited from memory by the uddesaka, as only pure bhikkhus are allowed to attend.

R

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Do you think a monk should use a blanket statement everyday just in case they unknowingly/unintentionally break a rule? Or should they just not worry about it?

I am not sure. Experts on the monastic code will likely have to weigh in. I think you should probably confess it right away. But I also don’t think it is an offense not to confess it right away, whereas it certainly is an offense (a dukkaṭa) not to confess it before or during the Uposathakamma.

Mv.II.27.1:

The Buddhist Monastic Code I: Appendices: VII. Pali formulae: Confession:

R

There are rules without perception. Mostly those related to time.
Don’t do anything that you have doubt about.
Read the Buddhist monastic code 1 and 2
Blanket statements are common to do frequently, but you should have at least one doubt or offense in your mind when doing it. It is easy to think of one possible thing if you know all the rules.

If you want to be a monk , you should Read the Buddhist Monastic Code before asking anymore questions on vinaya.

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